RWANDA National Olympic Committee has officially confirmed that the elections for the new executive committee will be held on December 27.

The RNOC Jurisdiction committee president Philbert Rutagengwa confirmed the election date in a press conference on Friday and also set September 15 as the deadline for interested candidates to submit in their CVs.

"We hope the federations will cooperate and send in their respective candidatures aspiring for different seats within a space of one month.

"Thereafter, we will scrutinize and see the credentials for the aspirants before short listing the candidates for various posts on November 19 such that they can start their campaigns,” Rutagengwa said.

Rutagengwa added that they hope the elections will be free and fair. He also emphasized that only 2/3 of the member federations which compose the local Olympic Committee will be allowed to vote.

The election date was reached after federations upped up their efforts to be legally recognized.

According to Rutagengwa, many federations have reached far with the process of acquiring legal status and he is optimistic that by December, all federations will have acquired legal statutes.

He however, emphasized that no federation will be allowed to take part in the polls without legal statutes.

Of all the over 20 federations which constitute the National Olympics Committee, it’s only the Karate (Ferwaka) and Chess (Ferwade) which meet the new drafted rules and regulations.

The other federations which include the local football governing body (Ferwafa), the volleyball federation (FRVB), athletics, boxing, handball, basketball, volleyball and Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) to mention but a few are still operating under the 1987 law.

The polls which would have been held last year was pushed to this year to enable all federations to meet the official the legal requirements before the new RNOC executive committee comes into office.

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